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THE INVESTOR
25TH ANNIVERSARY
The foremost principle of our approach is
the recognition that no single investment
house has a monopoly of expertise.We
carefully select fund managers of outstanding
ability to manage funds on behalf of our
clients.The level of resource we apply to
that challenge – in terms of time, people and
analysis – means that we believe we can o er
a better service than other wealth managers.
Alongside my colleagues on the
Investment Committee, it is our job to
ensure the approach helps deliver the best
possible investment outcomes for our
clients by nding the best managers.We
are aided in this task by consultancy rms
StamfordAssociates and Redington,
each contracted for their expertise in
particular investment markets.
Firstly, providing people with the
appropriate level of income in retirement.
Low growth and low interest rates won’t
last forever but the implications are that,
where possible, investors should save more
and start earlier. Secondly, ensuring savers
have the opportunity to share their
wealth with their children and children’s
children.That is already an important
part of our conversations with our
clients and will continue to be so.
Most importantly, it removes any
potential con ict of interest.We can
be objective about whether and when
we allocate money to a manager and
when we take it away.And we do this
without any charges, tax consequences,
or inconvenience to our clients. It means
we can o er the opportunity to diversify
investments by evolving and adapting
our range of funds across managers
with di erent styles.
It is very hard for any fund management
company to understand and adapt to
all the di erent ways in which the
investment industry is changing.The
advantage we have is that, if we recognise
that there is a change in the marketplace,
we can respond to it much more nimbly,
and are able to – fairly quickly – design
and deliver new investment strategies
for our clients.
INTERVIEWWITH
Chris Ralph,
Chief Investment O cer,St. James’s Place
What are the key features
of the St. James’s Place
Investment Management
Approach (IMA)?
How does the IMA
ensure that clients
have access to the best
fundmanagers?
What are likely to be
the key issues for investors
over the next 25 years?
What are the advantages
of this approach versus
employing your own
fundmanagers?
Howdoes the IMA enable
St. James’s Place to take
advantage of newmarket
opportunities?
Masao Yamazaki